My friend Stephanie Romary offered me a "soft place to sleep" in exchange for teaching her to paddle on my Connecticut stop. Done and done! Here she is on the Saugatuck River, where we checked out Downunder SUP, saw deer on the river's edge and celebrated Independence Day by eating Thai food in the rain at the beach, watching her daughters see their first fireworks.

I put a sticker on my board after each paddle, but this is one of the stickers I still need to find.